NME Albums and Tracks of the Year, 2012

The NME Album of the Year & Single Of The Year was announced on the 20th of November, 2012. It was the 39th countdown of the most popular albums and tracks of the year, as chosen by music reviewers and independent journalists who work for the magazine and for NME.com.

Albums

Note: UK artists

  • Bold: indicates Album contains track that won Single of the Year.

#

Album

Artist

Country of origin

1

Lonerism

Tame Impala

2

Visions

Grimes

3

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

4

(III)

Crystal Castles

5

An Awesome Wave

Alt-J (∆)

6

Given to the Wild

The Maccabees

7

Beard, Wives, Denim

Pond

8

In the Belly of the Brazen Bull

The Cribs

9

Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg

10

Django Django

Django Django

11

Blunderbuss

Jack White

12

Love This Giant

David Byrne & St. Vincent

&

13

Oshin

DIIV

14

Coexist

The xx

15

Tramp

Sharon Van Etten

16

Melody's Echo Chamber

Melody's Echo Chamber

17

Shields

Grizzly Bear

18

Baby

Tribes

19

Toy

Toy

20

America Give Up

Howler

21

Sun

Cat Power

22

Bloom

Beach House

23

Standing at the Sky's Edge

Richard Hawley

24

Children Of Desire

Merchandise

25

Mature Themes

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

26

Enjoy It While It Lasts

Spector

27

Devotion

Jessie Ware

28

Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Spiritualized

29

2

Mac DeMarco

30

Other People's Problems

Breton

31

Cruel Summer

Various artists from GOOD Music

32

The Haunted Man

Bat For Lashes

33

A+E

Graham Coxon

34

In Our Heads

Hot Chip

35

METZ

METZ

36

Come of Age

The Vaccines

37

A Flash Flood of Colour

Enter Shikari

38

Trouble

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

39

WIXIW

Liars

40

Give You the Ghost

Poliça

41

Twins

Ty Segall

42

Sonik Kicks

Paul Weller

43

Wiki93

Ratking

44

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City

Kendrick Lamar

45

Born To Die

Lana Del Rey

46

The Bravest Man in the Universe

Bobby Womack

47

Fin

John Talabot

48

Be Strong

The 2 Bears

49

Until the Quiet Comes

Flying Lotus

50

Shrines

Purity Ring

Countries represented

  • = 23

  • = 19

  • = 5

  • = 2

  • = 1

  • = 1

Singles

Note: UK artists

#

Track

Artist

Country of origin

1

"Best Of Friends"

Palma Violets

2

"Bad Girls"

M.I.A.

3

"Under the Westway"

Blur

4

"Forever"

HAIM

5

"Ill Manors"

Plan B

6

"Oblivion"

Grimes

7

"Lightning Bolt"

Jake Bugg

8

"Laura"

Bat for Lashes

9

"Elephant"

Tame Impala

10

"Sixteen Saltines"

Jack White

11

"Husbands"

Savages

12

"Pyramids"

Frank Ocean

13

"California Daze"

Peace

14

"Breezeblocks"

Alt-J (∆)

15

"Clique"

Kanye West, Jay-Z & Big Sean

16

"Genesis"

Grimes

17

"Come on, be a No-One"

The Cribs

18

"R U Mine?"

Arctic Monkeys

19

"Losing You"

Solange

20

"Call Me Maybe"

Carly Rae Jepsen

21

"I Follow You"

Melody's Echo Chamber

22

"Higher Ground"

TNGHT

/

23

"Wildest Moments"

Jessie Ware

24

"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"

Taylor Swift

25

"You Broke My Cool"

Pond

26

"Chi-Town"

The Cribs

27

"RUiN"

Cat Power

28

"Lies"

CHVRCHES

29

"New York"

Angel Haze

30

"Cough Cough"

Everything Everything

31

"Gonna Make My Own Money"

Deap Vally

32

"Who"

David Byrne & St. Vincent

&

33

"Lies"

Burns

34

"Jasmine"

Jai Paul

35

"Rock Bottom"

King Krule

36

"Teenage Icon"

The Vaccines

37

"What You Came For"

Mosca featuring Katy B

38

"Friday Night, Don't Ever Let It End"

Spector

39

"Mercy"

Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz

40

"Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"

Tame Impala

41

"Default"

Django Django

42

"Doom and Gloom"

The Rolling Stones

43

"Bloodshake"

Peace

44

"Wrath Of God"

Crystal Castles

45

"Ima Read"

Zebra Katz

46

"Forrest Gump"

Frank Ocean

47

"Follow Baby"

Peace

48

"Get Free"

Major Lazer featuring Amber Coffman

49

"Backseat Freestyle"

Kendrick Lamar

50

"Gangnam Style"

Psy

Artists with multiple entries

3 Entries

  • Peace (13, 43, 47)

2 Entries

  • Grimes (6, 16)
  • Tame Impala (9, 40)
  • Frank Ocean (12, 46)
  • Kanye West (15, 39)
  • Big Sean (15, 39)
  • The Cribs (17, 26)

Countries represented

  • - 27

  • - 15

  • - 5

  • - 3

  • - 1

  • - 1